Sunday, August 19, 2012

En route to Sonia

En route to Sonia

Austrian Airlines ~ Vienna to Istanbul

Time for landing

The view from the airplane ~ The World Trade Center

So based on Sonia's crazy map, I am supposed to take the airport bus to Taksim. You'd think that I fly 16 hours to see her, she would pick me up, right? I was actually up to the challenge of figuring out how to get there considering I speak zero Turkish!

He said: Where is your friend?I said: She's probably at home sleeping waiting for me to get there, she's lazyThen he said: Is this your first time here? I said yes, then he said "Yup, she's lazy"

Views from the bus to Taksim

As soon as I got off the bus, Ali asked me if I needed a taxi. He helped me with my bags. I told him to turn on the meter and he said "no problem" and didn't turn it on. Then he kissed me on my hand and I pulled away. He asked "problem?" I responded "yea, big problem". He apologized.

He kept telling me how beautiful I was, after getting tired of hearing it, I said "where's your wife"; he promptly advised me that he didn't speak English lol. I said "girlfriend?" He motioned to his ring finger and said "girlfriend, no". That didn't work, we finally get to Sonia's house (it was supposed to take 5 mins but he seemed to take the scenic route) and he asks me if I am staying alone, I was like "nope 5 people" lol. I asked him for the price ready to start negotiating since he refused to turn on the meter, he said "no problem" and then informed me that the ride was free.